SINGAPORE: Adoption agencies in Singapore are expected to take the necessary steps and bring in children of "correct background and origin", Minister of State for Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said on Wednesday (Jan 14).
He was responding to questions from Ms Sylvia Lim (WP-Aljunied) in parliament about a suspected Indonesian trafficking ring transferring babies to Singapore.
However, as agencies operate on a commercial basis, adoptive parents also bear some responsibility, said Mr Goh.
In September last year, the Indonesian National Police said that the alleged cross-border baby-trafficking syndicate gathered 25 babies, and 15 had already been sent to Singapore "under the guise of adoption".
Singapore authorities said last week that adoptive parents of children brought from Indonesia to Singapore are facing delays in their children's citizenship applications amid investigations into the syndicate.
Ms Lim said that parents in Singapore are innocent parties, and that adoption orders were given on the basis of recommendations by officers from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) or their partners.
She asked if the ongoing investigations affect public confidence in the adoption process, and whether MSF officers or partners could have discovered suspicious circumstances before the adoption orders were made.
Mr Goh responded that there are processes in place to ensure that agencies abide by procedures to ensure that the babies are from "appropriate sources", but that the onus is on adoptive parents to try their best to ensure that children are identified, matched and placed in families in line with Singapore's laws and that of the child's country of origin.
Ms Lim then asked if there is nothing more that agencies can do to prevent similar issues from happening in future.
"Because I mean, the parents, really, what can they do?" she asked.
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He was responding to questions from Ms Sylvia Lim (WP-Aljunied) in parliament about a suspected Indonesian trafficking ring transferring babies to Singapore.
However, as agencies operate on a commercial basis, adoptive parents also bear some responsibility, said Mr Goh.
In September last year, the Indonesian National Police said that the alleged cross-border baby-trafficking syndicate gathered 25 babies, and 15 had already been sent to Singapore "under the guise of adoption".
Singapore authorities said last week that adoptive parents of children brought from Indonesia to Singapore are facing delays in their children's citizenship applications amid investigations into the syndicate.
Ms Lim said that parents in Singapore are innocent parties, and that adoption orders were given on the basis of recommendations by officers from the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) or their partners.
She asked if the ongoing investigations affect public confidence in the adoption process, and whether MSF officers or partners could have discovered suspicious circumstances before the adoption orders were made.
Mr Goh responded that there are processes in place to ensure that agencies abide by procedures to ensure that the babies are from "appropriate sources", but that the onus is on adoptive parents to try their best to ensure that children are identified, matched and placed in families in line with Singapore's laws and that of the child's country of origin.
Ms Lim then asked if there is nothing more that agencies can do to prevent similar issues from happening in future.
"Because I mean, the parents, really, what can they do?" she asked.
Continue reading...